Florida Citrus Growers Brace For Cold Snap

Farmers Dash To Preserve Citrus Crop As State Prepares For Rare Deep Freeze

(AP)  Farmers rushed to protect citrus and other crops Tuesday as Florida braced for plunging temperatures, with the governor even lifting certain agricultural regulations as a precaution.

Temperatures were expected to drop below freezing in much of the state Tuesday night, hitting the lower to mid-20s for a few hours in many areas. Wind chill factors were expected to dive into the teens Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Gov. Charlie Crist issued an order late Monday relaxing restrictions in getting harvested crops moved to processing centers.

Officials were most concerned about the state's large citrus industry, though the state produces nearly 300 crops and much of the nation's domestically grown fruits and vegetables during the winter.

"If it only stays below freezing for four to six hours, we're OK, but after about six hours it starts to do its damage. If it freezes the oranges, obviously they're no good," Florida agriculture spokeswoman Liz Compton said.

The early harvest of citrus starts in November and December, Compton said. But beans, corn, cucumbers and eggplant are also being harvested and could be affected, Compton said.

With New Year's Day temperatures in South Florida still in the 80s, sunbathers got in one last tan Tuesday before temperatures were expected to drop there by about 20 degrees.

Freeze warnings were posted down to areas just north of Tampa and Orlando, according to the National Weather Service.

In northern Florida, high temperatures Wednesday and Thursday are forecast to remain in the 40s. Central Florida is expected to see 50s, and only 60s can be expected in the Keys and southeast Florida, emergency management officials said.

Some of the coldest weather was expected in the Florida Panhandle, where temperatures are forecast to plummet into the 20s.

Forecasters anticipated potential freezes from Wednesday evening into Thursday. Five-day forecasts had the cold snap ending by the weekend.

Many of the state's 40,000 commercial farmers were making preparations. One farmer told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he was readying helicopters to fly over his fields if the temperature drops below freezing; the blades can circulate air and prevent frost from forming. Other farmers were contemplating turning on irrigation systems, which can also ward off frost, and some were harvesting early.

The governor's order relaxed size and weight restrictions on commercial vehicles taking vulnerable crops to processing sites.

Some fishermen were not going out because of expected high winds. Dive shop operators, too, were looking at potential high winds later in the week and the possibility they could create choppy seas and stir up sand, which affects visibility.

It''''s the fault of "global cooling"

In the late 1970''''s, it was scientific consensus that the earth
is cooling and the earth was headed for a new ice-age.


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skykk: Why do you keep posting this falsehood? It''s a flat out lie!

Hx-53 - Nope, ain''''t gonna buy it. Your statement that "A warmer global climate result in more extreme weather events" is a self-fulfilling prophecy. In your view of the world, every event of the weather, every identified trend upwards or downwards, wet or dry, is useful as evidence of global warming. It doesn''''t work that way. Truth is, a warming climate does not induce extreme weather. For extreme weather, take a visit to the past in the 14th Century, at the onset of The Little Ice Age. I truly do not think anybody who reads would wish to see a replay of those times.


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CO2Max: Your "buying it" isn''t a prerequisite for it to be true. I don''t care if you believe the truth or not. The deniacons are in the minority, and shrinking.

[infidel_us]

recently reported string of record high temperatures set during 2007 which supposedly represent the proof of continued Global Warming.
Posted by CO2Max at 04:49 AM : Jan 02, 2008

That''s right.....they haven''t seen record high temperatures like the ones we had this past summer since 1932! How do the ''man made'' global warming zelots explain that?

[co2max]

Hx-53 - Nope, ain''t gonna buy it. Your statement that "A warmer global climate result in more extreme weather events" is a self-fulfilling prophecy. In your view of the world, every event of the weather, every identified trend upwards or downwards, wet or dry, is useful as evidence of global warming. It doesn''t work that way. Truth is, a warming climate does not induce extreme weather. For extreme weather, take a visit to the past in the 14th Century, at the onset of The Little Ice Age. I truly do not think anybody who reads would wish to see a replay of those times.

A warmer global climate result in more extreme weather events. Even though we are seeing more record lows, the average global temperature keeps going up. What does that tell you?

[downsteamjim]

Isn''t global warning ''cool''.

[co2max]

I know, of course, that freezes in Florida and California in January are merely events of weather. However, they stand in contrast to the recently reported string of record high temperatures set during 2007 which supposedly represent the proof of continued Global Warming.
As much as we see a few hundred record highs set throughout the country during any year, so we also see record lows and Winter-like weather in other locations. So what! This is all about weather.